The Basics of Couponing

Look for sales! Find the stores in your area that offer double coupons and will except competitor coupons. Then you want to get familiar with theses stores. Look for sales that are at least 40% off. Buy One Get One is a half off sale. BOGO is awesome! You get half off (or one free) plus you can use coupons for each item. As long as you are getting 40% or more off in a sale then couponing can be optimized.

Look for Coupons! There are three types of coupons. The three types of coupons you will need to look for are Manufactures, Store, and Competitors. Manufactures coupons are just like money to the store. The company that makes the product will pay the store for those coupons.  Store coupons are coupons that each store puts out in addition to the sales they run. Competitor coupons are the ones that  each stores competitors put out. For everything you buy from now on you will want to have at least 2 of the three. Believe it or not some stores like BILO will take all three!!! The best places to look for coupons are in the news paper, at each store you visit, and printable coupons like the ones above on this page.

Stack Your coupons! Stacking means you want to use as many coupons as you can per each item. If you find a 40% off or more sale at a store that doubles coupons and takes competitor coupons and you have store coupons along with manufacture coupons you have hit the jackpot. A more practical scenario is 40% off + double coupons +  Store/competitor Coupons + manufactures coupons  = some where between 50% and 90% off total purchase... How awesome!